Judge Bastine says he will retire

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Paul A. Bastine will finish his term and retire at the end of this year.

In a letter to other members of the bench and the Superior Court staff, Bastine announced Thursday he will not run for re-election this fall.

He plans to work on expanding access to justice and legal services for low-income people and serve as a judge pro tem for one or two weeks a month.

He also wants to spend time with his grandchildren, and he may be able to finish the cabin on Priest Lake he bought unfinished about 35 years ago, the judge said in an interview.

Bastine, who recently turned 65, was appointed to the Superior Court in 1995 by then-Gov. Mike Lowry.

He was the presiding judge in 1998 and served as the court’s first family law judge.

As presiding judge, Bastine said he noticed that family law cases – which include divorce, paternity and parenting issues – were facing waits of two to three years, and in some instances even longer.

He said he suggested the court appoint one full-time judge to family cases.

“My fellow judges agreed, and they appointed me,” he said.

Spokane County Superior Court now has two judges assigned to family cases, and it has gone from one of the worst in the state for waits in family cases to one of the best, Bastine said.

A graduate of Gonzaga University Law School in 1964, Bastine served two years with the Peace Corps in Brazil before returning to Spokane and starting his legal career with the county prosecutor’s office.

There he handled cases involving parents who didn’t pay child support. In those days, the prosecutor’s non-support office was just down the hall from his current courtroom.

“I’ve moved 50 feet, and my job is still dealing with non-support,” he said.

Much of his career as a lawyer involved working to ensure legal assistance for low-income and indigent clients, including a stint as chairman of the Spokane Legal Services Board.

He was a member of a three-lawyer firm in the Spokane Valley when he got the call from Lowry to replace Robert Whaley, who was being appointed to the federal court.

Bastine said he agonized over whether to file for re-election later this month.

Sitting Superior Court judges are seldom challenged in Spokane County, so his re-election was fairly certain.

Recently he concluded he wasn’t prepared to serve another four-year term and “decided this was just a more appropriate way to deal with that issue” than winning another term and serving a year or so.

His decision creates the first open seat on the county’s 12-member Superior Court bench in eight years.

Bastine said he is encouraging Court Commissioner Joseph Valente to run for the opening, but noted that with three weeks until the filing deadline, any number of candidates could throw their hats in the ring.